A CHEEKY gull has been dropping in on the same neighbourhood for more than 30 years.

Fred the friendly herring gull, who is easily recognisable by a distinctive dent on his beak, is so at home in the gardens of Attree Drive, Brighton, that he will now happily be fed by hand and even mixes with cats and dogs.

Simon Dack, photographer at The Argus, said: “He’s a bit of a personality and very friendly – he will come and sit with you in the garden. He hops from one garden to the other.

“Our next-door-neighbour Jane has known him for more than 30 years. She started calling him Fred some time ago and the name stuck.”

Mr Dack has lived in Attree Drive, near Queens Park, for 27 years. Fred has been there the whole time, although the Dack family has only got to know him over the last ten years.

Springwatch presenter Chris Packham said: “Herring gulls are long lived and characterful. As opportunist foragers their curiosity often endears them to people, although their raucous voice isn't so popular with people who don't like the sound of the coast on their inland rooftops.

“Be more tolerant, I say, as a friend like Fred could be more reliable than some and only requiring the odd chip to keep on your side.”

Mr Dack said: “He is a cheeky gull - he’ll even come inside with you if you let him.”

With a webbed foot on the property ladder, Fred might seem quite the eligible bachelor, but sadly his life is lacking in romance.

Mr Dack said: “There used to be a Mrs Fred – I don’t know what happened to her.”

Carrie Temple, RSPB senior conservation officer, said: “Herring gulls are highly adaptive birds and they do return to the same nest sites year after year, so it would not be unknown for them to come back to a place where they are being fed regularly.

“The average age that herring gulls live to, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, is 12 years, but the longest lived herring gull, according to their records, was 30 years, 11 months and 15 days, so this is a bird at the edge of its natural lifespan.”

Comments (19)

God Bless him ,we have a pair of Herring Gulls that come into our garden twice a day ,first thing in the morning at last at night ,we took to them because the male had a seriously damaged eye ,thankfully over the last 4 months we have known he has all but totally recovered ,although i think he has lost the full use of his eye ,the female is so protective of him ,and they land on the fence and look straight into the kitchen from 6 feet away ,they know they are always good for a meal here .

God Bless him ,we have a pair of Herring Gulls that come into our garden twice a day ,first thing in the morning at last at night ,we took to them because the male had a seriously damaged eye ,thankfully over the last 4 months we have known he has all but totally recovered ,although i think he has lost the full use of his eye ,the female is so protective of him ,and they land on the fence and look straight into the kitchen from 6 feet away ,they know they are always good for a meal here .tug509

These birds keep themselves immaculately clean ,yes they can and do make a mess ,but if us humans cleaned up our mess and kept our own environment in a more hygenic condition ,there would be no health risk .

john newman ,
These birds keep themselves immaculately clean ,yes they can and do make a mess ,but if us humans cleaned up our mess and kept our own environment in a more hygenic condition ,there would be no health risk .tug509

These birds keep themselves immaculately clean ,yes they can and do make a mess ,but if us humans cleaned up our mess and kept our own environment in a more hygenic condition ,there would be no health risk .

Tug509 . You could not have made a better comment! And John Newman,... If somebody rings the police over a seagull,then they want to get a life,what a waste of police time!

[quote][p][bold]tug509[/bold] wrote:
john newman ,
These birds keep themselves immaculately clean ,yes they can and do make a mess ,but if us humans cleaned up our mess and kept our own environment in a more hygenic condition ,there would be no health risk .[/p][/quote]Tug509 . You could not have made a better comment! And John Newman,... If somebody rings the police over a seagull,then they want to get a life,what a waste of police time!babsticals

We have one at the pub....been visiitng for several years now and has made a few friends in the North Laine, we thought he was he so we called him Nigel, he has become a she and is now a Nigella.............
will also hand feed and just stands waiting to be fed a dog biscuit or 3.

I like the sound of the gulls, it reminds me I live at the seaside.........

We have one at the pub....been visiitng for several years now and has made a few friends in the North Laine, we thought he was he so we called him Nigel, he has become a she and is now a Nigella.............
will also hand feed and just stands waiting to be fed a dog biscuit or 3.
I like the sound of the gulls, it reminds me I live at the seaside.........Mel Shock

STUPID woman, we had a neighbour who's helper used to feed a Gull, we couldn't open windows our bedrooms even through the height of summer because of the noise it made screaching for food at 4am every morning. When the neigbour died and the helper left so did the Gull. Six years of disturbed sleep, was a very grumpy bunny

STUPID woman, we had a neighbour who's helper used to feed a Gull, we couldn't open windows our bedrooms even through the height of summer because of the noise it made screaching for food at 4am every morning. When the neigbour died and the helper left so did the Gull. Six years of disturbed sleep, was a very grumpy bunnypwlr1966

I adore my gull mates. They are there on the adjacent roof when I wake watching me as I make my morning coffee waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are quite amusing and reliable characters, which is more than you can say for some humans! Yes, I do have human friends too, the more the merrier.

I adore my gull mates. They are there on the adjacent roof when I wake watching me as I make my morning coffee waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are quite amusing and reliable characters, which is more than you can say for some humans! Yes, I do have human friends too, the more the merrier.Juleyanne

I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.

I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.Juleyanne

Juleyanne wrote:
I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.

How naive it is to believe that the gull is your friend. All it wants is food. Don't feed them and they will find some other idiot who will.
I also disagree with the Sad bunch who say that the Gulls were always here and we just built our houses where they used to nest.

[quote][p][bold]Juleyanne[/bold] wrote:
I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.[/p][/quote]How naive it is to believe that the gull is your friend. All it wants is food. Don't feed them and they will find some other idiot who will.
I also disagree with the Sad bunch who say that the Gulls were always here and we just built our houses where they used to nest.Nosfaratu

Juleyanne wrote:
I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.
How naive it is to believe that the gull is your friend. All it wants is food. Don't feed them and they will find some other idiot who will.
I also disagree with the Sad bunch who say that the Gulls were always here and we just built our houses where they used to nest.

Yeah, and your kids don't love you, they just want you to feed and clothe them and leave them your money when you die. Your friends are not really your friends - they are just using you. Of course we have never built our houses where gulls once nested. They are just vermin that should be exterminated.
And you're calling other people sad ?!

.Quote »
Report this post »
...
11:06am Thu 19 Jun 14
Nosfaratu says...
Juleyanne wrote:
I adore my gull mates. They are there every morning feet away on an adjacent roof watching me patiently as I make my morning coffee, waiting for a few scraps for breakfast. They are amusing and reliable characters. I have watched them bring up their chicks year after year and respect their devotion to duty. Everyone should have a gull mate. Life is richer for having both human and animals in your life and I pity those who limit their own existence by restricting their life purely to their own human species.
How naive it is to believe that the gull is your friend. All it wants is food. Don't feed them and they will find some other idiot who will.
I also disagree with the Sad bunch who say that the Gulls were always here and we just built our houses where they used to nest.
Yeah, and your kids don't love you, they just want you to feed and clothe them and leave them your money when you die. Your friends are not really your friends - they are just using you. Of course we have never built our houses where gulls once nested. They are just vermin that should be exterminated.
And you're calling other people sad ?!B rian Tawses left foot

oh and here comes the usual troll abuse of others thoughts and opinions.........

We all like different things, the world would be very dull if we didn't

They and us have a right to live here, we leave food out and a mess in the streets which creates more gulls as they scavenge to live.........if we had better respect for our streets, better facilities to store waste in multi occupancy households there would be fewer gulls surviving on our waste..........they would eat more natural food better suited to them.
If you don't like gulls move away from the coast...........
Should we just exterminate all things you consider vermin B rian Tawses left foot ?? we can and do co-exist so leave them be.

oh and here comes the usual troll abuse of others thoughts and opinions.........
We all like different things, the world would be very dull if we didn't
They and us have a right to live here, we leave food out and a mess in the streets which creates more gulls as they scavenge to live.........if we had better respect for our streets, better facilities to store waste in multi occupancy households there would be fewer gulls surviving on our waste..........they would eat more natural food better suited to them.
If you don't like gulls move away from the coast...........
Should we just exterminate all things you consider vermin B rian Tawses left foot ?? we can and do co-exist so leave them be.Mel Shock

We as a species are fortunate to share this planet with all the other species. However we're the ones that have put life on this planet in jeopardy by our own rapacious actions, but still the majority look down on all other life forms as somehow inferior and ours to do with as we wish.

We as a species are fortunate to share this planet with all the other species. However we're the ones that have put life on this planet in jeopardy by our own rapacious actions, but still the majority look down on all other life forms as somehow inferior and ours to do with as we wish.spa301

pwlr1966 wrote:
STUPID woman, we had a neighbour who's helper used to feed a Gull, we couldn't open windows our bedrooms even through the height of summer because of the noise it made screaching for food at 4am every morning. When the neigbour died and the helper left so did the Gull. Six years of disturbed sleep, was a very grumpy bunny

Sounds like you'd be pretty grumpy with or without the Gull.

[quote][p][bold]pwlr1966[/bold] wrote:
STUPID woman, we had a neighbour who's helper used to feed a Gull, we couldn't open windows our bedrooms even through the height of summer because of the noise it made screaching for food at 4am every morning. When the neigbour died and the helper left so did the Gull. Six years of disturbed sleep, was a very grumpy bunny[/p][/quote]Sounds like you'd be pretty grumpy with or without the Gull.TheDrive

“The average age that herring gulls live to, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, is 12 years, but the longest lived herring gull, according to their records, was 30 years, 11 months and 15 days, so this is a bird at the edge of its natural lifespan.”

Or more likely it could be several different birds over the period which jook alike.

“The average age that herring gulls live to, according to the British Trust for Ornithology, is 12 years, but the longest lived herring gull, according to their records, was 30 years, 11 months and 15 days, so this is a bird at the edge of its natural lifespan.”
Or more likely it could be several different birds over the period which jook alike.Goldenwight

i moved into a high rise block, 6th floor and some gulls land on my window sill, one who I call Stephen Seagull actually knocks on the window for me to feed him, I always know if it is him as if I offer him something he takes it immediately, if it is another gull they just look or fly off. i don't feed him often as I don't want him to come dependant on being fed.

i moved into a high rise block, 6th floor and some gulls land on my window sill, one who I call Stephen Seagull actually knocks on the window for me to feed him, I always know if it is him as if I offer him something he takes it immediately, if it is another gull they just look or fly off. i don't feed him often as I don't want him to come dependant on being fed.Yasmeena

great ! but yes be careful, a friend had one that knocked the window and when he did not get there in time he knocked the window so hard and repeatedly he cracked it...........mind it was single glazing.....

great ! but yes be careful, a friend had one that knocked the window and when he did not get there in time he knocked the window so hard and repeatedly he cracked it...........mind it was single glazing.....Mel Shock